Most Costa Ricans regard their country as a model of peacefully prosperous democracy nestled in the midst of Central America's turbulent belt of banana republics. And, mostly, they are right. The government has a reputation for honesty, the coffee-based economy is in relatively good shape, and there are ten times as many schoolteachers as members of the 1,200-man Civil Guard, the republic's only armed force. But Costa Rica has known sieges of political fury. In the past few months, as the country prepared to choose a successor for President Mario Echandi, there were growing fears of another civil war...
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